Lasting In The Dark
by chibipocky-chan
Summary: Sora questions his title as a Keyblade master and maybe...his true feelings for Riku and Kiari? Lots of lime, maybe some lemon! WARNING: YAOI CONTENT!
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter One_

_"I'll come back for you, I promise!"_

_"I know you will!"_

Her voice rang through my ears and out into the early morning sky. My senses tingled with the pleasure of her words. I swear, there were times that I could feel her slim body resting next to mine, moments where I expected to be knocked on the head for not doing what she had told me to...and those were things that I knew deep down would not happen for a while...not until I found Riku. Then, and only then, could I go back to the days where I felt truly alive; all I wanted was to be happy with my friends, back on Destiny Islands with my family... I sometimes imangine myself, beating Riku in a race (finally) and then having Kairi be so impressed by my strength and agility to present the idea of sharing a Paopu fruit with her. All I can do right now is relish in dreams, for all reality has done is tear most of my hope into many tiny, little fragments.

The Darkness...that's what did all this. It made things so hard for me for this past year. All this pressure from being the one who weilds the Keyblade comes from the Darkness. I know I have the power to save people, I know that I hold the weapon of wonder and ruin, but then...why do I have this power? Why was I chosen? Riku was the original master. I can still see why, with his wit and muscle that always put that Selphie into a swoon, the bravery and confidence he held deep within his heart that still shone though he gave his soul to the Darkness. And look at me, the boy that cried after seeing a stupid little spider. I was a guy who felt as though I could never go truly home except when I was lain on the ground and swept away into a dream. I might have a pure heart, as my mother once said, or might do good...but what does being good have to do with anything?

I wish I could protect everyone. The people that I love most always get hurt. And most people are lucky that they are protected by a family member, boyfriend, friend, even maybe a pet. But look at me. No one is standing here in front of me, guarding me from the dangers that lie ahead in my future. I'm alone in this. I've got to sacrifice my life and my heart so people of these worlds can thrive. I think to myself at times, when looking up to the night sky, _"One day...is it possible I could die?"_

"Sora! Come on, wake up!"

"Ah-hyuck! Uh, Donald, are ya sure he's not dead?"

"He's not dead Goofy! Just sleeping!"

"Sleepin'? Well, wake 'im up then!"

"THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN TRYING TO DO!"

"Sora! It's Goofy. Ya gotta get up..."

Sora's eyes fluttered slightly as he felt his body leave the ground. He felt so peaceful...like there was no worries surrounding him. A bit of drool escaped the side of Sora's mouth.

"WHA-! HE DROOLED ON ME!"

The brunette opened his eyes to a disgusted Goofy and a laughing Donald. Sora looked down, still feeling quite weightless, and noticed he was three feet off the ground.

"Goofy..." he murmured in a soft voice "COULD YOU PUT ME DOWN!" Sora spat a bit as he yelled the last word. Goofy then fell over, dropping his friend very painfully on the ground and began to wipe at his face.

"COULD YA TRY NOT TER SPIT?" Donald helped disgusted Goofy off the ground, and used a quick swipe of his stafff to wipe the dirt from his shirt. Sora gave somewhat of a sheepish smile and wrapped his arm around Goofy.

"I didn't know you hated spit so much." Sora teased.

"Hmph." Goofy wrung out his hat in fear of more saliva. "It's any kinda water. It's all because of tha' Atlantica place. Being a turtle isn't exactly my ideal animal..." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Though they are kinda cute..."

"Yeah, you did look really adorable back there, Goofy." Donald said hastily, hoping not to be seriously injured with a blow to the head by one of Goofy's metal sheilds. Goofy didn't. Instead, he blushed and twisted his hands together shyly.

"Ya think I was adorable?"

Donald smacked Goofy with a strong Thunder attack. "GET YOUR HEAD STRAIGHT! We have much more important matters to talk about." The duck crossed his arms with an air of importance.

Sora rubbed his head, still feeling a bit sleepy. "Great and all, but where are we?"

"Traverse Town. You've been unconcious for a while." A young girl by the name of Aerith stood in the doorway to the Red Room, holding a tray of tea and small green vials. "I've just arrived from Hallow Bastion. We heard from King Mickey we'd find you lying around here somewhere. So we came and brought you to the Hotel." She walked in briskly, and placed the tray on the oriental style table and sat on the bed. The green-eyed beauty smiled at Sora for a moment and reached her hands out to him. "Come here."

Sora walked over slowly, and grabbed both her hands. Her face shone as she looked Sora from head to toe, examining him. The brunette's face turned a slight shade of pink.

"W-what are you doing, exactly...?" The words sputtered out with shyness tagged on to them.

"I'm just looking at the boy who defeated Ansem." Her eyes glimmered with renewed hope. "You risked it all to save people from the Darkness and you realized that Kingdom Hearts was light. I'm so proud!" She whispered the last few words as two tears fell to her cheeks. Sora felt abashed. Sure, he had defeated the ruler of the Darkness, but did he really need this much attention? He opened his mouth to retaliate, to tell her that it was nothing, until he saw Leon in the doorway flash him a half smile. Sora then grabbed onto Aerith's hands tightly and graced her with a small "Thank you." He was surprised at his own voice, sounding so small and squeaky like he too was about to cry. He instead bit his lower lip and bowed his head, and Aerith then let him pull away. He felt a hand on his shoulder, strong and secure. _I can't look at Leon like this..._ He tried to blink away tears that threatened to leak out. Sora then gave out a sudden, but dry sob that lasted less then one second.

"CUMMON! YER CRYIN'? YA BIG PANSY!" Sora felt the hand thump him on the back, causing him to almost die of oxygen loss. He turned to face a joyous Cid, who was smiling and laughing. "I never thought ya could do it boy, but ya did! I always thought that huge key of yers was a tad to big for a kid like yeh, but I was wrong! Good work, Sora!" Cid ruffled Sora's hair a little too roughly, perhaps only to cover what happiness that could explode out of him at any second. Sora stepped back with a evil grin on his face.

"Nice to see you too, Gramps." He said, not forgetting that Cid had called him 'kid'.

Cid then gave him another smirk as Aerith then grabbed him and pushed a potion into his hands. "Drink it up quick, it'll help."

"So..." Sora took a quick swig of the potion, feeling energy flow through him. "Where's everyone else?"

"Yuffie's back at the Thrid District. She's helping people reopen some shops." Aerith smiled at the thought.

"So people are actually returning back here now?"

"Yeah, naturally." Leon stepped out from the doorway and made his way over to a chair. "There's no Ansem to fear anymore, and since all the worlds went back to their places, everyone wants to go back home, don't they?"

_Home._ The word echoed in Sora's head and panged his heart. "Yeah, You're right."

"So now you have to find king Mickey, huh?" Leon whipped out his Gunblade and a rag and began to polish his weapon gently.

"And Riku." Sora added in a calm yet annoyed tone.

"That's right. The one Ansem controlled for a while."

Aerith stood up from the bed. "Where do you think they could be?"

Sora opened his mouth to answer, but Leon beat him to it. "Don't know. So many worlds out there, you're never gonna know until you check them all, I guess. I've been using a gummi ship for a while, checking the other worlds. I haven't seen any sign of the king." Leon glanced at Sora. "Or Riku."

"Oh dear. They must be somewhere far." Aerith murmured gently.

"Well, while we look for the King and Sora's friend Riku," Donald piped up "We have to find a way to get Sora back home, to Destiny Islands."

The whole room looked to Sora. He stared into each of their eyes, and he knew that they needed him here. He could not go home until his title as the Keyblade master was fuffiled. Not to mention he didn't want to look like a total wuss. The brunette puffed up his chest bravely and placed his hands on his hips. "I'll go home on my own time. Just don't worry about me, worry about those who need help."

Aerith smiled and Cid clapped him on the shoulder. "That's a good kid." Maybe he knew that Sora was just lying?

"So now...there's one thing left to address..." Leon's Gunblade disappeared and walked toward Sora. Just then, a excited Yuffie peered over Leon's shoulder and whispered "Squall loves Sora..."

Leon jumped a foot in the air, all the while trying to teach Yuffie how to say his name with the accompaniment of several curse words. Yuffie giggled as cat lips appeared on her face. "Ah, you know I was just kidding. So, Sora..." She bounced over to him joyously and shook both his hands. "CONGRATS ON DEFEATING MR. DARKY-PANTS! I mean, Ansem..." Yuffie glanced over at an irritated Leon and giggled nervously. "But Squall was right...one more question..." The ninja leaned over so close that she was able to whisper into Sora's ear "Didja kiss Kiari yet?"

Sora's eyes got huge as she pulled back and smiled adorably. He felt his cheeks go red as he yelled "NO! Who said I even had a crush on her!"

Yuffie sat in a chair, feeling nonchalant about Sora's feelings at all, just casually said "I was just wondering."

Sora's stomach fluttered with butterflies at the thought of having Kiari pressed up against him, their warm lips brushing eachother gently...

Leon stifled a small growl and inquired "What does Kiari have to do with any of this?"

"I was just curious, Squall. No big deal." Yuffie poured herself a cup of tea from the tray Aerith had brought in earlier. "Plus, Kiari does have alot to do with it, she was one of the Princesses Of Heart. She helped save us too. It wasn't only Sora."

"That's true." Leon muttered, not liking the fact that Yuffie was right.

"But right now there's one thing to worry about." Aerith said slowly. "Sora, you need to find the King. And fast."

Sora stared at Aerith as though she was lying. "Yeah, okay." He laughed heartily. "Like I'm gonna believe that!"

Just then Goofy gave him a sad smile, and placed a hand bracingly on his arm. "We gots some bad news..."

"What do you mean 'bad news'? I just defeated Ansem! What could possibly go wrong here?"

"We feel..." Cid took a deep breath. "We feel that something...we dunno what...but something is happening. I really dunno if it's Ansem comin' back or wha'..." He scratched the back of his head. "It seems that Kingdom Hearts has been reopened. The Darkness is slowly leakin' it's way back out and..." Sora's head swam with thoughts. "We have reason to beleive that it's swallowing up worlds again."

"TELL ME MY WORLD IS SAFE!" Sora yelled, practically falling over.

"I...I can't gaurantee that your home will be okay." Aerith said in a low voice. "The light is so strong now, that shadows have become stronger too, taking in people as alliances and making them do things against their will. It's terrible..." Her voice trailed off into deep thought.

"But we can't let anyone know yet." Leon said in a strong tone. "We need to protect the-"

"World border!" Goofy chimed.

"'ORDER!'" Donald corrected him.

Leon gave somewhat of an annoyed smile. "Yeah. The world border."

Yuffie stepped in. "The sad thing is that I helped these people move in today when they might be moving out again rather soon. We're still trying to use Traverse Town as a safe haven for those who can not go home." The ninja stared intently at the ground. "We're probably gonna be packed..."

"At least we're not digging graves." Leon stood tall and began to walk to the door.

Sora jumped quickly. "If you're going to fight Heartless. I'm with you!"

Leon gave a small chuckle and almost whispered. "Who said we were fighting others?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's just like what you were muttering in your sleep..."

"YOU HEARD ME SLEEP TALKING!"

"Yeah. And you said something that made me realize how dangerous it is out there. In other worlds." His brown head turned to a vase, and looked at it as though it were very interesting.

"You said 'I'm alone in this.' And you spoke truly." Leon skulked out of the room, and Aerith winced as the door was slammed shut.

Sora put his hands to his hair, running his fingers through it stressed-like. "I can't do this. I can't." Just then, Kiari placed her graceful arms around his neck. Her firey hair brushed Sora's cheek, and she whispered into his ear. _"It's okay. I am always with you."_

The brunette jumped at the voice and attempted to grab at the girl who was never there. He opened his eyes, and with another burst of confidence, said "I promised I would help. And I'm not alone." He grabbed Donald and Goofy by the arms and hugged them.

"I have my real friends with me."


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

The streets of the Hamasaiyuki City were covered in a thick blanket of people as the Bon festival reached it's peak of celebration. Many laterns were strung high onto buildings, lighted up against a darkened sky. People chanted and prayed to their ancestors through the streets, asking for luck and for their blessings to come upon their household. Geishas stood at the doorways of their tea houses, gesturing to young men off the street to come inside and chat for a while, while the men in turn, stared at these women in wonder and awe. Loud, drunken laughter was heard somewhere off in the distance, along with a child crying. Where the roads of Hamasaiyuki began to darken and swerve off into sharp corners, mingling with the stench of death in the air, is where we find the house of Shingai, a very popular teahouse at the time. Its windows held the only light that could be seen amongst these dark alleys, giving the house a warm glow to its already gentle beauty. A man, dressed in a black cloak, walked slowly towards this house. He looked it up and down critically, and a smile then came across his face.

"So this is where the idiot could be hiding, eh?"

He then pulled his hood further over his face and proceeded in. The geisha that stood at the doorway stared at this peculiar man in wonder. A whisper went about them for a while, until a smaller girl bowed and held an empty glass and a warm bottle of sake. The man took the cup as the young girl began to fill it; she couldn't help but to peer at the man under the mysterious hood. He drew back quickly, as though hiding something, then held the cup up to the heavens, and poured it over the steps of the tea house. A murmur of excitement rushed through the geisha of Shingai and the small crowd that stood before it. He then took another cupfol of sake and drank it down without a word. The man then entered the tea house, and removed his shoes silently, handing them to a maid that stood nearby. For a moment he stood barefoot in the entryway, staring at the young maid that stood at his side. Her wide, brown eyes looked into his, glazed with fear.

"Sir..." She muttered, and pulled back with a bow.

"You have no reason to be afraid of me, you know." He cooed gently.

The girl blushed, and not knowing what to say in return, just gave a quick bow and said "They wait for you in here, sir." Her voice had a tinge of hidden fear in it. The hooded figure stepped closer to her and slowly bent down to grab her chin. His movements were flowing and soft, like water. She began to turn her head away, but his hand held her head in place.

"Do you know what could happen to a nice young girl like you working in this part of town?"

"N-no, sir."

He smiled and a chuckle escaped his lips. "You don't?"

The young girl shook her head.

"Tell me. What is your name?"

Her lower lip quivered, but after a moment she mangaged to whimper "...Chiyo..."

"Chiyo, is it? Well, let me tell you, Chiyo. This is a bad city. Bad people live here. People who are full of greed and lust and evil."

Chiyo's eyes seemed to grow big, though this was not news to her. "I know sir, but the people who are here have good money and-"

"Don't speak. I'm not finished..." He held a pale finger to her lips. "If this city is so evil, then why should people live here? They say people's hearts are made of light. A light that will impale the darkness and shine brightly to signify hope. But this dirty city you call a home...it is covered in darkness. And what happens to the heart when it lives in the dark for so many days?" His grip tightened on her chin and forced her to look into the impaling shadows that covered his face. "Hmm...?"

"No s-sir...I..."

"You have too, even with such a pure soul, have been corroded with this darkness. Darkness sprouts within the heart after it lingers in it for so long. The soul belongs to the darkness, where there is no light. Answer me another question...do you see any light in this city, Chiyo?"

Chiyo shook her head.

"That's right...Are you still afraid me?"

"N-no sir...I'm not s-scared..."

"Yes, you are." His voice rose with an unexpected anger. He withdrew his hand from her quivering jaw, making her cry out suddenly. His anger was like a heat wave, protruding from under his dark hood with a malicious fire. Scared, Chiyo fell to the floor and grabbed at the smooth wood tiling, attempting to scramble backwards into a room behind her. Instead, she found herself pressed up against a wall.

"Stupid girl. I thought I didn't scare you. How dare you lie to me!" The words slid out of his mouth like snakes.

Chiyo struggled to speak. "I-"

"'I' nothing. You know nothing of the light! You, who crawls through these dirty crowds just to find a job where they will feed you something. You lead such an dark life, and you don't even know your hearts being eaten away _this very second._"

The dirt-covered girl managed to pull herself up, now leaning against the panneled wall. Her breathing became heavy and hard, and tears began to form in the corners of her almond eyes. The man's smile was no longer there, now replaced with gritted teeth and a tounge that spit venomous words. He then came forward to her. He grabbed her hands, and pressed her violently against the wall. Chiyo was a small girl, and no older than 15, and had no strength against this man.

"Stop! P-please sir, I-i...I-i...Don't..."

"Don't what?" He growled angrily. "So now I'm made out to be a bad guy, huh?"

Chiyo shook her dark head silently.

"Where is he?"

Shook her head in protest. _What did he mean? I don't know...I don't know!_

The hooded figure's voice became shaken with emotion as he tightened his grip on her left wrist and threw her to the ground. Chiyo landed with a hard _thud_, and tear leaked out.

"I HAVE TO FIND HIM!"

He then bent down, and Chiyo felt a strong tug that ripped at the nape of her neck, causing her to cry out. The man held her long black hair in his hands, forcing her head upright. He kneeled down next to her and relaxed the pull on her hair, but at the same time, kept a firm hold.

The man's breathing slowed and he pulled in close to whisper into her ear. "You poor girl. I can save you, you know."

The raven haired girl's eyes widened in confusion. "W-what?"

"Such a beautiful girl. You could have been a child of the light. Now look at you. A face carved by the darkness. Deceiving, yet pleasing to the eye." He paused. "Did he send you here?"

"S-sir?."

"I know your him very well. I was...good friends with him. And I trusted him with her...I trusted...him..."

"Sir..." Chiyo placed an warm yet shaking hand on his shoulder. "Are you all-"

"I'm fine!" He snapped, but let her hand remain there. Just then, Chiyo swore she saw two silver orbs leak run down the exposed, pale skin of his cheeks.

Chiyo shuddered. _The typical signs of a drunk._ "I-I can call someone to help you h-home, sir."

"NO!" He roared. He struck her with the back of his hand, sending her sprawling across the floor again. Chiyo tried to move, but her every muscle froze. Fear over came her as she heard the sound of something being pulled from a scabbard and the shadow of two blades being raised shilloutted on the floor in front of her.

"I want you to relay a message to him for me." The man then struck downwards, both Keyblades in hand. Her brown eyes filled with shock as her own crimson flew before her, and she was quickly sent to a place with no pain with a blow to the chest. The man watched body twitch gently for a moment, then relax, a red pile on the floor. He smiled and withdrew the Keyblade from her now mangled body, having it disappear into the air.

"Tell your Sora that I'm back." The man pulled down his hood to reveal aqua eyes and silver locks that framed his mature yet handsome features. "And that Riku wants her back. Now."


End file.
